Christopher Abbott Leaves ‘Girls’ After Conflict with Lena Dunham

Christopher Abbott, who plays Marnie’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Charlie on HBO’s Girls, has left the series following creative differences with Lena Dunham, Page Six reports. Abbott has been a frequent recurring guest on the show since Season 1, but his role was looking as if it would be beefed up in the upcoming third season before this happened. Page Six’s anonymous source told them, “They’ve just started work on Season 3, and Chris is at odds with Lena. He didn’t like the direction things are going in, which seems a bit odd since the show put him on the map.” There’s no word on how much of Season 3 Abbott has filmed or whether he’ll be written out of the show prior to or during the new season. Page Six also reports that Lena Dunham has “shaken up” the show’s writing staff this season too, so there have been plenty of personnel changes in the show already at the top of the season.